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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sameer in Mumbai

Starting today, I am going to pick a random photo from my flickr Photostream and write a bit about it. I am going to try to do this once daily as a writing exercise and to also share some photos and stories.

These two kids live in a shack on the side of a busy Worli street in Mumbai. The kid on the right's name is Sameer and I met him when I stopped to ask what he and several other kids were doing. They were separating the metal from plastic and paper from tons of liquor bottle tops. Even though we shared little in the way of a common language, him knowing very little English and me knowing even less Hindi, we were able to understand "aluminum." It turns out that they sell the metal to recyclers.

Even though I saw him sleeping on the sidewalk with many other kids later that night, he seems not to let poverty take away his spirit. He wanted photos of him to be taken in many poses and was happy to view the image after each one was taken.

The living conditions I saw while walking around just a few streets of Worli are horrible. It is nice to see these families doing their best to survive the streets without resorting to begging or crime. This particular band of family and friends that I spent a few minutes with were extremely friendly, especially Sameer. As I walked on ahead, turning back I saw he was still smiling and waving.